Saturday, December 5, 2009

Where a Diplomat's Self Esteem Goes to Die

Language training is designed to constantly push you further, so you never reach a comfort level. In preparation for my first progress test, I've been reading a lot of articles about bus accidents (apparently this type of thing happens a lot in Nepal). Just as I've gotten pretty good at reading for gist and for details, my instructor took me to the media lab and had me listen to some Nepali news reports about bus accidents. Holy crap.

I had two reactions to the news clips. The first - Why is he shouting at me? The second - Is he racing through the story so quickly because he gets paid by the number of stories he can squeeze into the newscast? More often than not, I leave class thinking, "I suck."

I guess language training is not an exercise in developing self-esteem.

2 comments:

Lee said...

ah geeze. I hate FSI language. Worst part about our jobs.

Mom said...

Having had no language training in over 40 years, I'm unable to identify. But now I can add bus accidents to the list of things to worry about starting next summer, right behind list-item number one, rampaging elephants. "Avoid public transporation and any religion involving the worship of Pachyderms." Sound advice from your mother.